Beautiful Disaster
by morelia-love
Summary: Story based more on the self development of the OC and how that influences her relationship with Evra
1. Chapter 1

**One**

The girl curled herself into a ball on a mat on the floor. She was extremely tired, as she almost always was, but she was also trying to keep herself hidden. If Helen knew she was lazing about, she'd be in a mountain of trouble.

The girl opened her mouth in a huge yawn, while stretching her arms out, before rolling onto her back.

"Kat!" Helen's voice wailed from somewhere upstairs. "Where are you wretched thing?"

One oval eye opened, and then the other, as the small girl stretched out her entire body. A sound in the midst of a growl and a groan escaped her lips. She pulled herself lazily up the stairs and into the living room, where she knew she'd find Helen sitting on the couch watching television.

"What were you doing?" Helen demanded of Kat the second she'd walked in the room.

"I- um," Kat mumbled, knowing she could say nothing to calm Helen's temper.

"What's the matter? _Cat _got your tongue?" Helen laughed at her little joke.

Kat closed her eyes and looked down. Her mother always made snide remarks to her, not that she ever thought of Helen as her mother. A mother was supposed to be caring and loving. Besides that fact, the little comments Helen made were the least of Kat's problems.

"No sense of humour, you're such a sour puss." Helen laughed again, then shook her head and shrugged, dismissing Kat's sad demeanour. "Go and bring the washing in. Fold it all perfectly and sort everything properly into my room." Helen waved her hand in Kat's direction without making eye contact, signalling that she should leave and get to work. It was the only reason Helen kept her around.

Kat did as she was asked and got to work.

Kat did as she was asked every time without fail. Though Helen was cruel, Kat had nowhere else to go. She had no family; her father had left her the day she was born, as Helen had reminded her on a regular basis. She had no job, no money, and no education. Helen had ensured Kat led a sheltered life, she'd never interacted with anyone in her 16 years.

Kat had barely finished putting all of Helen's clothes away when she was once again shrieked for.

"Kat! Clean the kitchen, it is disgusting!"

Again, Kat did as she was asked, not making a sound. She didn't flinch as she cleaned grease and food scraps from the stove and benches, as she threw out old food from the refrigerator. She barely felt anything anymore, except the constant need for sleep. She was a robot: eat, sleep, do chores. They were her only reasons for functioning.

When Helen had finally finished bossing Kat around, it was half past eight. She had been awake for just on 13 hours and she felt awful. If she'd been allowed, she probably would have slept most of the day, she was sure of it.

Kat could hardly keep her eyes open as she made her way into the basement; her room. She climbed into her small bed; with its lumpy mattress and thin blankets it shouldn't have been as much of a relief as it was, but to Kat it was heaven.

She closed her eyes instantly, fearing the fact that in a few short hours she would be called upon again to carry on the repetitious cycle that was her life. She sighed, digging her fingers in and out of her pillow until she fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Two**

"Kat!"

Kat squeezed her eyes shut, hoping the call had been in a horrible dream she was having. Hoping that it wasn't already time for her to be up and about.

"Get up here! I'm going out!"

Kat's ears pricked at that. When Helen left on outings, it gave Kat a little extra time for rest. Not much, as Helen always left a mile long list of chores for to finish. But Kat managed to rest in between each job enough to keep herself sane.

Kat had just made it to the top of the stairs when Helen almost knocked her over rushing past.

"Sweep and mop, vacuum the bedrooms, dust everything. I want the house _spotless_." Helen hissed the last word, staring Kat down. "I'll be back later."

Kat nodded meekly, knowing it was best to just agree now but disobey the second Helen was gone. One would think that because Kat cleaned every day, the house would be spotless all of the time. This wasn't the case, because whenever Helen did _anything, _whether it be shower, eat, watch television, Helen made sure to cause as much mess as physically possible. She would drop food, splash water everywhere, change her clothes multiple times a day to make sure that Kat was always busy.

Kat hunted around the house for the dirtiest spots, which were Helen's bedroom and bathroom. Kat started work on these first so that Helen knew she'd done _something_. After that she went for a nap, but she made sure to set her alarm so that she didn't sleep the day away. After her nap she cleaned the kitchen, which was the only other dirty section of the house so far. Being the clever girl she was, she pulled out the vacuum and set it up along with other cleaning utensils, before going back down for another sleep. That way when Helen got home, Kat could run upstairs and grab the vacuum and Helen wouldn't suspect a thing.

Tyres crunching on the gravel drive way woke Kat, and she ran upstairs to set into motion her flawless plan that had worked so many times before. Helen waltzed into the house, briefly glancing at Kat who was hard at work vacuuming.

"Clean my car, inside out and out!" Helen yelled before she slammed her bedroom door.

Kat smiled to herself, the only time she felt close to happy was when she'd pulled one over on Helen, like just now. She headed into the garage and grabbed the bucket of car cleaning things. She wasn't allowed outside at all, so the car was in the garage that was attached to the house. Kat cleaned the outside first, wiping off all the dust and mud. She couldn't hose it, so it was a long and tedious task. Kat then cleaned the inside of the car, picking up the food wrappers and other rubbish, wiping over the interior, using the hand vacuum on the cloth seats.

As Kat was inspecting her work, she reached under the seats to check she hadn't missed anything. Her hand brushed against something under the driver seat, and when Kat pulled it out, she almost threw it away without first looking. But something made her stop and fold out the piece of crumpled paper.

The flyer was green and black, and the writing was curly and old looking. Kat had learnt the basics of reading and writing from educational children's shows she had secretly watched when Helen wasn't home.

It read:

Cirque Du Freak: The world's greatest Freak show.

Though she couldn't understand the concept of the sentence, one word that stood out to Kat was 'freak'. Helen was forever calling Kat a freak, and if there was a show dedicated just to freaks, well perhaps Kat could find them and join them, and maybe it wouldn't be as bad staying with Helen. Kat wasn't really sure what a freak was. Scared children whose parents were horrible to them? That would make sense, as Kat didn't have anything else to associate herself to.

Kat then continued reading the flyer as much as she could to memorise it before she threw it away. It said that the show was 'one night only', meaning that if Kat did want to go see the other freaks, she would have to go and see the show on the one night it was in town. Tonight.

This posed a problem, as Kat had never left the house. She had no idea how to get to 'Mimi's Theatre House', as she had no idea what a 'Mimi's Theatre House' was to begin with. She couldn't ask for directions, as no one knew she existed, and wouldn't people find it strange someone asking directions to see a 'Freak Show'?

"What's taking so long?" Helen yelled from through the hall.

Kat's heart pounded as she stuffed the flyer into the rubbish bag and closed the car door. She took the rubbish in and placed it in the bin, and put all of the cleaning gear away. She would only have a few hours to organise what she was going to do if she were to find her way to the freak show.

'Well, it's nice to dream,' she thought to herself, sighing.


	3. Chapter 3

**Three**

After Helen had made herself dinner, (Kat wasn't allowed to touch Helen's food, only clean up after her), she went upstairs into her bedroom to watch television and start drinking. At this point of the night, Kat was allowed to make herself dinner, her only meal of the day. It was never anything fancy; canned meat or bland rice or pasta.

The drinking had Helen passed out cold before Kat had finished cleaning up after herself. She snuck upstairs and checked that Helen wasn't going to come to, but considering there was only a quarter of the bottle of liquor left, Kat didn't see much chance of that.

Before sneaking back into her own room, Kat opened Helen's bag and took whatever cash she could find out of Helen's wallet. There would be no going back after this, for if she did, Helen would no doubt kill her. Pulling on a pair of tattered jeans and a black hooded jumper that was too big for her, she pulled the hood up over her orange brown hair, as it covered her face well. She pushed her feet into a pair of scuffed sneakers and she was ready to go. Kat's heart was racing as she pushed open the small basement window and climbed out of it.

How long until Helen realised Kat was gone? What would Helen do once she did realise?

Kat kept herself in the shadows as she edged along Helen's house, towards the driveway that would lead to freedom. Once she had reached the gate, she hopped over it silently and started running. It was dark out, and the street lights were on, but there were still plenty of lights on in houses, so Kat tried to be careful so that she wouldn't be seen.

It was harder to remain hidden as Kat entered a busier section of town. She assumed this must be the place where shops and schools and everything that could ever be needed would be found. Like 'Mimi's Theatre House.' But the busy section seemed to carry on forever, and Kat had no idea in which area to look for such a place.

Every person or strange thing (which was most things to Kat since she had never seen anything from this outside world) made Kat jump. Her heart was racing a million miles an hour as everything scared her.

Kat kept her head down and her hands stuffed in the pockets of the jumper. No one paid any attention to her; and she soon realised why. There were so many people here, laughing, talking, sitting quietly. All were dressed differently, all were varying ages, and no one looked the same at all. Kat fit in because she was different.

But soon she realised there was a reason Helen kept her isolated from the outside world. Although everyone was different, Kat realised that she had differences from everyone else. Things that other people had in common, were major differences from the way Kat was.

Eventually Kat realised that she couldn't wander around aimlessly if she wanted to find the freak show that was here for one night only. She saw an older lady sitting by herself on a bench and went to ask her for directions.

"Excuse me miss," Kat said ever so softly, it was lucky the lady even heard her at all.

Kat's stomach performed somersaults; she had _never_ spoken to anyone but Helen before. Ever.

"Can I help you dear?" the old lady looked up at Kat's shadowed face kindly.

"I was just wondering if you could please tell me where 'Mimi's Theatre House' was?" Kat held her breath.

"Mimi's Theatre House?" The old lady repeated, but differently as Kat had pronounced it wrong. "Of course." The old lady then rattled off directions of left and right and third street and last building.

Kat must have seemed overwhelmed because then the lady said, "Would you like me to write it down for you?"

"Please," was all Kat could muster up as a reply.

The lady did just that and wrote down all the instructions on a napkin she'd had in her huge hand bag. She held them out for Kat, smiling the whole time. Kat stared at the napkin for a moment before quickly removing her hand from the pocket and retrieved the directions lightning fast before the lady could see Kat's dirty hands and overgrown nails.

"Thank you," Kat said politely, and then quickly took off in the direction the lady had pointed.

When she was certain no one was looking, she pulled out the directions to look at them; left up ahead. She put the directions away and then put her hands out in front of her, making right angles with her pointer finger and thumb to remind herself which way was left and right.

As Kat followed the last instruction off the napkin, she looked up and couldn't believe her eyes. She had actually made it to 'Mimi's Theatre House'. It hadn't been what Kat had expected. It didn't look like a house at all. It looked like a huge building, with big glass doors for an entrance. There were a couple of people around, but no one seemed to be taking any notice of the building that was the centre of Kat's attention.

She edged towards it hesitantly, hoping that no one noticed her. There was a small booth out front, so that's where she headed. A little door popped open down low, and a small folded piece of paper flew out before the door slammed shut. Kat picked up the paper and read the word 'MONEY' scrawled along it messily. She reached into her pocket to pull out the wad of cash she had stolen from Helen.

Kat didn't know how money worked, so she handed down two of the paper bills to the door. It flew open again and a small hand reached out and grabbed the notes from Kat. A few seconds later the door opened and closed again, and a ticket fluttered to the ground. Kat picked up the ticket and walked into the building. She looked around wide eyes, completely unsure of what to do next.

Suddenly a very tall man was standing in front of her.

"Are you 21?" he asked, in a deep accented voice.

Kat didn't understand what this meant, she stood there clueless for a bit until the man spoke again.

"Say 'yes'," he instructed.

"Yes," she replied meekly.

"Do you suffer from any heart conditions or are you prone to fainting?" he questioned.

Again, Kat stood motionless, waiting for the man to supply her with the correct answer.

"Say 'no'," he coaxed again.

Kat did as she was told.

"Then head on in," the man took Kat's ticket, then motioned to the doors behind him, "the show is about to start."

When Kat entered the room, there were several people sitting around on the chairs laid out around the small stage. Kat surveyed the area and calculated where would be best to sit. She didn't want to sit near anyone, and draw attention to herself, and she also wanted a chair close to an exit in case she needed to make a quick getaway. The only seats far enough away from other audience members were the seats in the front row, so Kat took the one right on the edge. Once she was seated, the lights dimmed and the tall man from outside became lit up in the centre of the stage.

"Welcome all," he paused dramatically, "To the Cirque du Freak."


	4. Chapter 4

**Four**

The tall man began to explain a little bit about the show, about how old it was and other trivial things. Kat was fascinated, but she still had no idea what a freak was. The tall man then announced the first act, 'The Wolfman'.

Kat's heart sped up as a hairy gray person walked out on stage. Well, he looked like a hairy gray person at first, but then Kat noticed he didn't have a face like a person. He had a long nose and huge pointed teeth, and he smelt like Helen's neighbour's dog that Kat had only seen once when she'd snuck outside. Kat had hated that dog, it had barked and growled at her, and had frightened Kat when she was so little.

Kat held her breath as the wolfman walked around, and hoped that he would be gone soon and other, more pleasant freaks would come out. Then, something terrible happened. The wolfman attacked a lady in the audience, biting her arm clean off. Kat jumped, and went to run, but then the tall man came back out and assured everyone that everything was ok, as the lady grew her own arm back!

Kat was confused now. It was obvious that 'freaks' were clearly something a little different from normal people. They either looked completely different or were able to have amazing talents, such as growing their own limbs back. As more and more freaks came out, this became blatantly obvious to Kat, and she realised that she wasn't a freak. She wasn't that special; she could do nothing but clean and be obedient. The other freaks could use their teeth to bite through metal, had two bellies, were incredibly skinny, had long heads and the list went on.

Yes, Kat was different from other people, but she wasn't the same as the freaks. She was alone, and nobody would ever really _want_ her around, just find her _useful_ to have around.

But then, another freak was announced.

"Now, for something beautiful," the tall man spoke quietly. "Evra, the Snake Boy!"

The silhouette of a tall person appeared and the boy walked out so everyone could see. People gasped as he walked out, holding a long snake around his shoulders. Kat didn't understand why they all seemed to shrink back at his presence, when Kat was seemingly drawn in. He was normal in every way; he had a normal shaped head, only one belly, normal body weight, and he wasn't covered in hair. His skin was green and scaly, like pictures of snakes Kat had seen in a magazine once, but that was it.

He appeared to be like any of the other people here. He was wearing a dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and a vest over it, and jeans, with a beanie on his head and his black hair poking out the bottom. He even had a silver ring in his right eye brow, like Kat had seen on some of the people walking down the street on her way here.

Evra whispered softly to the snake as he walked around the stage, seeming to control it to lash out and miss the audience by inches. It was captivating.

There were another two freaks on after Evra had left, but Kat could barely focus. She noticed that the woman could grow a beard and read people's futures, and the man had a pet spider who he danced with and controlled with a flute.

Kat hadn't really felt like she had belonged when seeing any of the other freaks, but when she had seen Evra, he had seemed just like her. He was young, like her, and he was mostly normal, just like Kat. He didn't have special abilities but they obviously wanted him here.

When the show was over, Kat got up. She had to go around the back and find out who was in charge, beg them to take her with them. She could clean, she could cook, she would do whatever she had to in order to stay with the Cirque du Freak and away from Helen.


	5. Chapter 5

**Five**

Kat left the theatre through the front entrance of the building where she had walked in, keeping away from everyone else exiting the show. But instead of going back the way she had came, she crept along the side of the building, hoping to be led to a back entrance somewhere. When she was almost at the alleyway down the back, she heard voices and she froze.

"Come on, man," a boy's voice spoke. "Hurry up and do your business so I can go back inside. It's freezing out here!"

Kat heard something sniffing around, and then the smell from earlier hit her. The wolfman! Growls erupted around the corner and Kat's eyes bulged as the wolfman shot around the edge of the building and stared at her.

"Crap, wolfie what are you doing?" the boy's voice called.

Kat was terrified, she didn't know what to do, but she had to make a split second decision as the wolfman jumped at her. She jumped up swiftly onto the fence beside her, ran forward so that she was now behind the wolfman, jumped back down. She noticed a hanging platform on the edge of the building, ran full force at it, jumped up, grabbing it with her hands and pulled herself out of the wolfman's reach.

He was jumping up and growling and biting at her. She looked down, her heart pounding and noticed the boy who had just noticed her. It was Evra.

"Guys!" he called out through the open door. "I'm gonna need some help out here!"

Evra tried pulling the wolfman away himself, but the gray hairball was hell bent on getting to Kat. A moment later the tall man who had been announcing for the show, the bearded lady and the spider man were all out in the alley way. The tall man finally got the wolfman to go inside and someone led him away.

"It's ok now," the tall man spoke calmly. "You can come down."

Kat stayed where she was. This had been a terrible idea. She had to get home quickly before Helen released that Kat had disappeared with her money in an attempt to escape. But now Kat had done something stupid and drawn so much attention to herself, she wasn't sure how to get out of this one. She shot a glance at the open alley way through which she'd have to make her escape.

The red haired spider man noticed this and went and put himself between Kat and her only exit.

"We just want to talk to you. You're not in any trouble or danger," the bearded lady said sweetly.

But Kat knew better, she knew she was in trouble and danger from Helen, if not from these people. But it seemed she didn't have a choice in the matter, so she stood up on the edge of the platform and jumped down.

"No!" Evra cried, as the bearded lady screamed.

Kat landed in a crouch, and then stood up slowly. She was confused by their sudden change of opinion; hadn't they wanted her to come down? The four of them looked incredulously between Kat and the platform she had just thrown herself from. Kat's brow furrowed and she looked up at the platform too.

"How did you just land easily from that three storey drop?" the spider man asked. "Who sent you here?" he almost yelled.

"Easy Crepsley," the tall man said, "We don't know who she is, there's no accusations just yet."

"Surviving a fall like that, the Wolfman trying to kill her. I think it's safe to assume she's vampaneze," Crepsley rushed towards Kat.

Kat shrank back and hit into the brick wall of the theatre house. She didn't know what was happening, why they were all staring at her, accusing her of being a 'vampaneze', when she had no idea what that was.

"Crepsley she's scared," the lady soothed, stepping between Crepsley and Kat. "What's your name?" The lady reached up to pull back the hood that was still covering Kat's face.

Kat dodged her, wanting to keep her face hidden.

"I'm afraid we can't let you leave until you tell us who you are. Just for our safety of course. No harm will come to you." The tall man kept his distance, not wanting to crowd the girl.

Kat looked around nervously, realising she really didn't have a choice in the matter anymore.

"My name is Kat," she spoke softly, and then pulled her hood from her head.


	6. Chapter 6

**Six**

The four freaks stood staring at Kat for a moment.

"Whoa, did not see that coming," Evra stood wide eyed.

Kat knew what they were all staring at. Her wide golden green eyes, pupils fully dilated to allow the low light in, her ears that pointed through her hair on the side of her head, her hair itself that was orange brown with black streaks naturally through it, and of course, the solid black spots that marked her cheeks. They were the only black marks visible on her face, apart from the ones on her forehead covered by her fringe, so the only ones the four people could see; but they covered her entire body. She clenched her fists and her half inch nails fully extended themselves, digging into the flesh of her palms.

"Let's go inside," the tall man said.

Kat shook her head furiously. "I have to go," she cried desperately.

"Oh my goodness," the lady gasped quietly, though Kat heard her.

Kat winced as she realised she shouldn't have said anything, when she spoke it was plain to see her inch long canines and pointed teeth.

"We just want to talk to you inside for a few moments, and then you can leave," the tall man said nicely.

"If I don't get home soon, my mom-" Kat started.

"Your mother?" the tall man interrupted. "You live with her?"

"Uh, yeah," Kat replied, looking down at her shoes.

She couldn't tell them what she really wanted to, not now. She had to get back to the house before things got any worse than they already were.

"Ok, Evra," the tall man turned to the snake boy, "Could you please escort Kat home?"

"No problem," Evra replied cheerily. "One sec." He went through the back door of the theatre.

Kat should have argued, should have insisted she would be fine on her own. But honestly she enjoyed the thought that Evra would walk her home. She pulled the black hood back over her head as Evra returned outside, now wearing a grey jumper with a hood on his head too.

The pair began walking in silence, but once the theatre house was out of sight, Evra struck up a conversation.

"So, you're like a cheetah girl or something, huh?"

Though Kat had never seen the big cats in the flesh, Helen had shown her pictures to taunt her; showing her that she was an abomination, a _freak_.

"Leopard, actually," was all Kat managed to say in response.

"That's a pretty cool way to be f-ed up," Evra smiled.

Kat stayed silent, but after a moment, curiosity got the better of her.

"What's f-ed up?" she asked, stopping to look over and stare at Evra.

Evra laughed. "Freaked up."

When Evra smiled or laughed, Kat could see his teeth, and she noticed that they were all small and pointy. Also he had green eyes, with vertical slits for pupils. He began walking again, and Kat kept pace.

"Do you purr?" Evra asked, sounding amused.

Kat shook her head no in response, as she could see the snake boy staring at her. He was quite talkative and animated, and where that should have made Kat uncomfortable, it actually made her feel more relaxed. He helped to ease her mind as they made the trek across town and into the streets that would lead Kat home.

"You know it's too bad you have a mom and a house and everything," Evra rattled on. "Well, I mean not too bad for you, that's great. Most of the time when parents have freaky kids they just wanna get rid of them."

Kat listened to Evra intently, loving that he was talking to her.

"Anyway, I mean if that had been the case, Mr Tall would have let you come and live with us at the cirque."

Kat's ears pricked at that. Would they really have accepted her so easily?

"That's what Mr Tall was getting at back there. I guess he expected you to not have a family and wanted you to come in so he could invite you to stay or something. But you're lucky you have a mom that loves you and stuff so..." Evra trailed off.

Kat had stopped walking, completely frozen in place. Kat stared at Helen's house, where every light was now burning through the windows. Helen was awake.

"Are you ok?" Evra asked, stepping in front of Kat's vacant face.

Kat let her eyes focus on Evra's.

"Yeah, my mom's awake." Kat choked on the word 'mom'. "She didn't know I was going out, so she's going to be worried and probably annoyed. I'm ok now though, you can leave."

"Ok," Evra spoke slowly. "Well it was nice meeting you Kat."

By this time though, Kat was running towards the house, and Evra stood alone, wondering why he was so choked up about never seeing Kat again.

Kat didn't bother sneaking back into the house. Helen knew she had left and that was going to mean trouble for Kat. The small girl's heart was racing as she pushed on the back door and let herself in.

Helen was sitting at the kitchen table, and her eyes locked onto Kat the second she entered the house. Neither of them moved for a few seconds, just stared at each other.

"Where have you been?" Helen spat as she rushed at Kat.

Kat backed herself up against the door she had just entered through. Helen stood over her, breathing heavy, the smell of alcohol washing over Kat's face.

"Answer me you wretched little bitch!" Helen hissed, her hand gripping Kat's throat.

"Out," Kat managed to choke out, "I just went out. Just once."

Helen released her grip but didn't move away.

"For 16 years I have been so good to you, haven't I?" Helen spoke viciously. "For 16 years I didn't desert you, or beat you, like someone else would have. You don't belong out there, you're a monster. But I let you stay here. And how do you repay me?

"You _steal_ from me! You _lie_ to me! You ungrateful little whore!" Helen grabbed Kat by the hair and threw her into the kitchen cupboards.

Kat shut herself down. She let herself imagine that she had been brave enough to stay at the Cirque, with Evra and the others. That she would get to live out a long and happy life with them all. Maybe then, when Helen killed her tonight, she could pretend that she was happy.

Helen jumped down onto Kat, striking her in the face. Kat could have fought back, she was strong, but it wasn't worth it, not now. When Helen's hands tightened around Kat's throat and as her vision began to go blurry, she saw him. She saw Evra, she whispered out his name, and she smiled.


	7. Chapter 7

**Seven**

Kat's throat was painful. Kat would have thought death would be painless, but apparently not. She winced as she cracked her eyelids and bright light blinded her. Maybe bright light meant she had made it into heaven. But that didn't make any sense, because Helen had told her countless times that God wouldn't allow a monster like her into heaven. Helen had said Kat would be sent back to hell, where she came from.

"She's waking up," an accented female voice spoke from somewhere nearby.

"Kat, Kat, can you hear me?" a boy's voice, so familiar, held so much concern.

Kat's mind felt separated from her body, like she couldn't force herself to open her eyes and look to see where the voice was coming from. She could hear him though, Evra, somewhere close by, she just needed to find him.

Her mind returned to her body the instant she felt something touch her hand. Kat's eyes shot open and her pupils constricted instantaneously to reduce light intake. She looked down at her hand and noticed that the rough feeling was a green scaly hand, now tightly holding onto hers. Her eyes followed the hand, up the arm, shoulder, neck, and then settled onto his face.

"Evra," Kat managed to choke out. "Where am I?"

"It's ok, you're at the Cirque," was Evra's reply.

"How did I get here?" Kat tried to sit up.

"Stay still." Evra put his hand gently but firmly on her shoulder to keep her down. "I'll explain everything when you're better. But for now, just rest."

Kat went to argue, but honestly, she was so tired, she didn't have the strength. Instead she squeezed Evra's hand that was still held in hers, and closed her eyes.

"Maybe you should go get some rest too," the same female voice pushed at the edge of Kat's mind.

"No," came Evra's voice, "I want to be here when she wakes up again."

When Kat woke again, it was night time of the next day, but she didn't know that. All that she could tell was that it was dark, and an all too familiar scaly hand was still held tightly in her own small hand. She looked down and her excellent night vision gave her the ability to see Evra seated in a chair by the bed she was laying in. He was asleep, his head resting on the bed next to where their hands were entwined.

Kat tried to gently lift herself up, but with the slightest movement Evra shot upright.

"You're awake," Evra mumbled, rubbing his eyes with his fists.

Kat stayed still and silent in the bed, watching Evra with great curiosity. What was he doing sleeping beside her?

"Do you need anything? Food, water..." Evra trailed off.

"Bathroom," was Kat's croaky reply. "I need the bathroom."

"Ok, I'll show you where it is." Evra stood up.

He watched Kat intently as she managed to get herself out of the bed. Kat froze as it really dawned on her just where she was, who she was with and what she was wearing. She pulled the sheet up from the bed to cover her bare arms. The singlet she had on didn't cover the black spots that circled her wrists and changed into rosettes up her arms.

"It's ok," Evra said. "No one here is going to mind about those."

Kat didn't budge, and the look of worry on her face worsened. Evra slipped out of the jacket he had on and placed it gently around Kat's shoulders.

"Thank you," Kat whispered.

But she wasn't talking just about the jumper, she was talking about everything. Though she was a little hazy on the details, Kat knew that somehow Evra had saved her from Helen.

Evra showed Kat to the bathrooms, and on the walk there, no one was around. It must have been in the dead of night. Evra waited outside patiently as Kat went in. As she was washing her hands, she looked up into the mirror and couldn't believe what she saw. Her cheeks were swollen, as well as her lips, and they were a purple blue colour.

Kat shuddered as she remembered Helen hitting her. But then she remembered how she had felt so happy imagining that she was with the Cirque, and she smiled now knowing that she really was here with Evra. Kat splashed water onto her face as gently as possible and then went outside to meet up with Evra.

As they walked slowly back to the tent where they had come from, Kat spoke up.

"I want to know what happened."

"Are you hungry?" Evra changed the topic.

Kat thought for a moment. "Yes."

"I'll get you something to eat, and then I'll tell you everything."

Evra dropped Kat back into the tent, making sure she was tucked comfortably back into bed before he went off to find her some food. Kat became increasingly impatient as she waited for him, wondering how it could take that long to get food and come back. She wanted to hear the story.

Evra returned with a plate of meat and vegetables, and Kat wasn't sure where he'd found something like that at this time of night. But all she really cared about was that he was back. Kat stared at him expectantly.

"Start eating," Evra instructed.

Kat did as she was told, slowly taking a bite. Once the food hit her tongue, she realised that was starving, and started eating quicker.

"Ok, well," Evra started the story, "After you went into your house, I started leaving, but after a couple of minutes I had to go back and make sure you were ok. I didn't want you to be in trouble so I just had to check. If I hadn't walked off, if I'd just checked on you sooner, I would have got there quicker."

Evra stopped, his head now in his hands. Kat stopped eating, putting her plate aside and took both of Evra's hands in her own, forcing him to look her in the eye. She smiled, letting him know it was ok.

Evra continued. "So, then when I got there, and I could hear her- I just barged in, and she was- Well, then she was pretty surprised to see this." He motioned to himself. "I told her what I thought of her and I got you the hell out of there."

Kat smiled. "Thanks."

She looked down at the plate that had found its way back onto her lap again, and was shocked to find it empty. Evra removed it from her lap and handed her a glass of water, which she took graciously and guzzled down.

Kat gave a huge yawn, her canines showing themselves fully.

"They're pretty impressive," Evra pointed to the tiger girl's teeth.

Kat automatically brought her hand up to her mouth to cover them.

"Don't do that," Evra said, pulling her hand down. "Best part about the Cirque; we don't have to hide who we are."

Kat smiled, snuggling herself down into the bed covers.

"I can't believe you're tired," Evra exclaimed. "You've seriously been sleeping for," he paused to look at his watch, "52 hours."

"I love sleeping," Kat whispered, burying her face into Evra's jacket that she was still wearing, and inhaled in his scent.

"I'll go back to my tent now. I just wanted to check you were ok." Evra began backing out of the tent.

Kat wanted to beg him to stay, but she knew that was wrong and selfish. Evra needed to sleep in his own tent, not on a chair by her bed. Kat then wanted to know where Evra's tent was so that she could find him again. But of course in the morning, someone would be kind enough to show her where it was, or Evra would come and find her.

"Good night," Evra whispered as he slipped out of the tent's entrance.

Though Kat had slept for 52 hours already as Evra had pointed out, she had no trouble finding sleep again. She put this down to the fact that she was happy and she was safe, two things she had never been before in her life.


	8. Chapter 8

**Eight**

When Kat woke in the morning, she stayed in bed. She didn't know where to go if she got up, so she waited in hopes that Evra would come and get her. A little while later, the man that Evra had called Mr Tall and a woman came into the tent.

"Good morning," the woman cooed, coming to stand by the bed. "How are you feeling darling?"

Kat looked up nervously at the woman, and replied softly, "Fine."

"That's good," the lady smiled. "Evra had to do some chores this morning, so we wanted to come in and check on you."

"Oh, ok then." Kat played mindlessly with the zipper of Evra's jacket.

She was getting quite warm wearing it, but she didn't want to take it off.

"Oh I'm sorry darling. I'm Madame Truska!" the lady identified herself.

"Kat, we came to talk to you, about what happened." Mr Tall stepped forward now.

Kat tensed, waiting to hear what he'd say next. Would he ask her to leave?

"You could have told us, if you needed help. You were very lucky Evra was there. But now you're here, and you're welcome to stay."

"If you'd like to," Madame Truska added.

Kat smiled and nodded. She'd like that a lot.

"Ok. Truska?" Mr Tall nodded to her as he left.

"How about we get you all cleaned up and into some fresh clothes?" Madame Truska asked, extending her hand to Kat.

Kat hesitated a moment, before slowly reaching out and taking Madame Truska's hand. Truska led Kat outside and around some tents and finally stopped outside a little cabin.

"This is the costume tent. Rebecca works in here, I think you'll like her." Madame Truska smiled, leading Kat in.

"Rebecca?" Madame Truska called.

A girl, maybe a year or two younger than Kat came out.

"Oh, hey, you must be Kat, the new girl," the girl shot out her right hand, "I'm Rebecca."

Kat stared at the girl's outstretched hand, unsure what she was supposed to do. Rebecca just dropped her hand quietly, obviously not fazed by Kat's oddness.

"Could you please find her some clothes to wear, then show her where the showers are to get her cleaned up? And afterwards make sure she has something to eat?" Madame Truska asked Rebecca, and then headed out.

"So, how are you finding the Cirque so far?" Rebecca asked, sorting through clothes on hangers.

"I haven't seen anything," Kat replied quietly.

"Oh, so you do talk," Rebecca teased. "Here, how about these?" Rebecca showed Kat a pair of black jeans.

Kat shrugged and nodded. She didn't mind what she wore as long as it covered her up.

"What are you doing at the Cirque?" Kat asked, not knowing much about manners.

Rebecca laughed, pulling a shirt off a hanger to inspect closely.

"I have a tail," she answered simply. "I'm a monkey girl."

Kat's brow furrowed as she examined the girl for said body part, wondering if maybe Rebecca was playing a joke on her.

"I keep it wrapped up; people tend to step on it if I leave it out. Here you go." Rebecca showed Kat the shirt.

"Is there a long sleeve shirt?" Kat asked politely.

"Yeah, sure." Rebecca put the shirt back on the rack and went searching for another one.

"When will Evra be back?" Kat asked, picking at the black jeans she was now holding.

"Everyone at the Cirque has jobs to do. Since Evra spent all day Saturday and Sunday with you, he needed to get back to helping out. But I'm sure he'll find you for lunch. I think he likes you," Rebecca smiled.

Not knowing what Rebecca meant, she missed the true meaning of what Rebecca was saying. But Kat hoped that Evra liked her, because she liked him.

"Here you go, is this better?" Rebecca showed Kat a red and white striped long sleeved shirt, and Kat nodded.

Rebecca showed Kat where the showers were and left her to wash and change. The clothes fit perfectly; Kat was impressed by Rebecca's ability to pick out the clothes without measuring her to asking her size. Maybe that was Rebecca's freak ability, she thought.

After she was all done, Kat took her dirty clothes and Evra's jacket back to the costume tent. She gave Rebecca the dirty clothes but held on to Evra's jumper. She would give that back to him herself.

"You don't have to stay here you know?" Rebecca said, taking the dirty clothes. "You can go out exploring the Cirque and meet other people."

The thought of going out there alone was enough to scare Kat.

"No, I'd like to stay here if I can."

Rebecca agreed and they spoke to each other now and then. Kat wasn't a big talker, but Rebecca was so it wasn't awkward between the two. Kat even helped Rebecca out by sewing buttons or patching things up. She had learnt to sew by hand but that was about her only useful skill in the costume tent.

After a bit, Rebecca announced that it was time for lunch. When they headed outside, everyone was going in the same direction as the two girls, obviously where lunch was going to be served. Kat watched everyone around her, noticing different features of people. There were bird people, the teeth girl, a man running on his hands, the man with two bellies, two girls that looked identical wrapped around each other. But no Evra.

The people around Kat looked at her briefly before moving on. A bird girl stopped beside her, and her head moved jerkily around as she stared at Kat. Kat fought the urge to swat out at the feathers on the girl's head, something she'd never experienced before.

"Get moving, Wren," Rebecca shooed the girl with her hands. "Some of the human-animal freaks take more after their animal counterparts than humans," she explained.

Kat nodded. Perhaps that's what it was when she had wanted to swat Wren's feathers. Cats liked to play and chase with things like that, didn't they?

Kat followed Rebecca up to the area to get food, but didn't get any herself. She was still full after her midnight meal with Evra. Rebecca didn't say anything about Kat's lack of food. Rebecca found them a table away from everyone else and Kat slipped into the seat beside her. Kat settled her head on her hands on the table, her eyes darting around watching people wandering around.

Kat's ears pricked as she heard footsteps coming up behind her, and the sound of familiar breathing. She sat up straight and swung around on her seat to face Evra. He was about five metres behind Kat, and he gave her a puzzling look.

"I heard you coming," Kat explained.

"You _heard_ me coming?" Evra walked up to stand in front of Kat, and then looked back to where he had been standing when Kat had noticed him. "You really are f-ed up." He laughed.

Kat smiled at him as he sat down with his lunch.

"Where's your lunch?" Evra asked, looking disapprovingly at the empty space in front of Kat.

Kat shrugged. "Not hungry. I only eat once a day. Here's your jacket."

Kat passed Evra the jacket she had been holding onto all day. He thanked her and put it across his lap.

Rebecca finished up her lunch and then excused herself, leaving Kat and Evra alone.

"I've finished all my jobs for the day," Evra said, pushing his food around his plate. "Did you want me to show you around?"

Kat nodded. "Yes please. Mr Tall said I could stay."

Evra smiled. "Of course he did, I told him he had to let you stay."

Kat smiled back, almost going to cover her mouth with her hand, but then letting it fall back into her lap. Evra stood up, extending his hand to Kat.

"Come on," he said, picking up his plate in the hand that wasn't holding Kat's, "I'll start the tour now."


	9. Chapter 9

**Nine**

"Where do you want to start?" Evra asked, slowly strolling down a path.

"Where's your tent?" Kat replied quickly.

Kat wanted to know where Evra's tent was the most, because she thought this would be the most important place she'd ever need while at the Cirque. She wanted to be able to find Evra as quick as possible should she ever need him. She concentrated very hard on everything she passed as Evra led her towards his tent.

"Here we are."

Evra motioned to the green tent that was in the shape of a snake's head. Kat looked up at it in awe. It was very cool, and suited Evra perfectly. Not just because he was a snake boy, but he also had a very cool personality.

"Do you wanna go inside?" Evra asked hesitantly.

Kat nodded enthusiastically, wanting to know what the inside looked like, so Evra led her in.

"Oh crap," Evra exclaimed, releasing Kat's hand and running to pick up things off the floor. "Sorry, it's a bit messy, I wasn't expecting company."

Kat just smiled at him, and walked slowly around the room, looking at everything. It was quite big, there was a bed and a wardrobe and a big glass cabinet. Kat walked up to the glass cabinet and looked inside where there were branches and leaves. And then Kat noticed the long snake, the same one Evra had around his shoulders on Friday night.

"That's Bippo," Evra said, coming to stand by Kat, quickly snatching up a sock that was hanging on Bippo's house and throwing it aside.

Kat pressed her hand to the glass and Bippo came over and licked at it.

"She likes you," Evra observed.

Kat looked up at Evra and smiled. He was very tall and she was very short. Kat noticed that the top of her head only just reached to Evra's shoulders.

Kat walked away from Bippo and Evra and kept wandering around. She noticed a few things in the other corner and walked over to them. She had no idea what they were, so she reached out and touched them hesitantly. She had touched a flat metal looking disc and it had given off a tinging sound when Kat had tapped it with her nail. Kat looked up at Evra, startled.

"What? You've never seen drums before?" Evra asked sarcastically, banging on the drums as he walked over.

Kat subtly angled herself behind Evra, using him as a shield from the drums, but if Evra wasn't scared then she shouldn't be either. She stared wide eyed between Evra and the drums and shook her head 'no' to his question.

Evra sat down on a little stool that was behind the drums and picked up two sticks that looked like oversized toothpicks. He began hitting each piece of the drums one at a time with one of the sticks to show Kat the different sounds they all made. Once he was sure Kat wasn't going to have a panic attack, Evra played a little drum solo for her. Kat wasn't sure if she liked the drums or not. When Evra played it all together, it sounded fun, but her hearing was so sensitive and the drums were very loud.

The next thing Kat's eyes landed on was a guitar. Kat knew what this was as she'd seen a man playing one on TV once. She knelt down in front of it and touched the strings, but nothing happened, so she knocked her knuckles on the wood. It sounded hollow, so Kat peeked in the hole that was under the strings and saw that it was.

"Here," Evra said, coming to sit beside Kat. "Like this."

Evra took Kat's hand in his and dragged her thumb across the strings, causing the sound Kat had been hoping for to occur. Kat ran her fingers over the strings a couple of times by herself, enjoying the feeling and the sound that she created. Evra pulled the guitar off its stand and propped it on his lap.

"Each different pitched sound," Evra plucked at the strings, "is called a note. And three notes," he explained, "make up a chord." He played a chord. "And eventually you put it all together, and you have a song."

Evra started playing a variety of notes and Kat noticed how beautiful and soft they sounded. She leant her head against Evra's shoulder and smiled, but Evra stopped playing.

"I should show you around some more, so you know where you're going."

Evra put the guitar back onto its stand and stood up, taking Kat's elbow and helping her up too. He showed her around the entire Cirque, not touching her this time, much to Kat's disappointment. He pointed out the different people, where certain people lived, where she could find something to eat or drink, showers and bathrooms, though she knew where they were. Evra explained that she was allowed to go outside the Cirque if she wanted, but no one was allowed to come in, and a couple of other rules.

"And here is Mr Tall's place." Evra motioned to the big tent. "Let's go in, shall we?"

Evra moved to the entrance and called out to Mr Tall, who called out in reply that they could enter.

"Evra, Kat!" Mr Tall greeted them and offered them seats. "You look like you're feeling much better now, Kat."

Kat gave Mr Tall a small nod and smile as a response.

"Well, since you're feeling better I think we should get you settled in to a permanent space and out of the hospital tent. You'll have to bunk in with someone, but I'm sure you'll be happy."

Kat's demeanour brightened. Evra didn't have anyone bunking in with him, maybe she'd get to move into his tent.

"Rebecca has plenty of extra space, and is willing for you to share with her. Plus she's around your age. I think it would work out well."

Kat's face faltered for a second before she smiled again and nodded.

"Excellent. Evra could you please escort Kat there, and stop by to get some blankets and pillows for her."

"No problemo Mr T," Evra said, standing and heading out.

Kat followed behind silently.

"What's wrong?" Evra asked, slowing down to fall into step beside Kat.

Kat shook her head.

"You gotta start talking, this whole one sided conversation thing is driving me mental," Evra sighed.

"Did I do something to make you mad at me?" Kat spat out, before she had time to think it through.

"What? No, why?" Evra stopped walking and stared at Kat.

"Why can't I stay in your tent? I don't want to stay in with Rebecca, I don't really know her."

"You don't really know me either."

Kat sucked in a breath, her chest hurt really badly. She didn't know why.

"I get scared when I'm around the others, and I know that I don't get scared around you. I feel safe," Kat whispered.

"I didn't mean it like that," Evra backtracked, "It's just that what Mr Tall says goes, and I'm not going to argue with him. And besides you need to get to know other people around here, not just spend all your time with me."

"Are you going to stop spending time with me?" Kat asked, sounding scared.

"No, of course not. Why would you think that?" Evra stared into Kat's eyes, looking for the answer.

"Things feel different between us already, from what they were before. Like you don't want to be around me," Kat tried to explain how she felt, but it was hard. "You don't want to hold my hand anymore."

Evra sighed, bringing his hands to his eyes.

"It's just," Evra stopped. "I don't think you really understand things the way I do. You didn't know what a drum kit was. Things have certain meanings, and if you don't understand those meanings but someone else does it makes things complicated." Evra groaned. "This doesn't make any sense."

Kat pouted. "No, it doesn't."

"We can still be friends," Evra concluded. "But you need to learn about life, about living, from everyone else too."

Evra led Kat to the laundry room and then to Rebecca's tent in silence. He didn't hold her hand.


	10. Chapter 10

**Ten**

Kat followed Rebecca out for dinner. Kat would eat now, she was hungry. After getting their food (beef stew), they went and sat at the same table they had sat at for lunch. Kat scooped out all of the solids from her stew and put them on a separate plate so that she could use her fingers for eating. With her canines and incisors she wasn't very talented when it came to eating with cutlery.

Though she kept eyes and ears open, there was no sign of Evra at all. Maybe he had lied when he said they would be friends. Kat didn't think he wanted to be her friend anymore, and that made her feel sick inside.

After dinner the two girls got cleaned up and settled in Rebecca's tent for the night. Rebecca liked to talk, and Kat was happy listening. Then Kat had a realisation; Evra had said she was to live and learn from the people around her.

"Rebecca," Kat said, before she could lose her nerve. "Evra said I had to learn things from the people around here."

"Ok," Rebecca replied, clearly confused.

"Evra said that we couldn't hold hands anymore, because I didn't understand. Because certain things have different meanings and it's confusing, because I don't understand any of it and I didn't know what a drum kit was until today." Kat sighed and folded her arms after she was done.

Though it probably shouldn't have, what Kat said made perfect sense to Rebecca. Rebecca knew what she was trying to explain.

"I think what Evra was trying to get at," Rebecca said slowly, "Is that, you haven't experienced a lot of things. You don't fully understand feelings and emotions just yet. So it's confusing for him too."

"Well," Kat pondered for a moment, "How will I learn it?"

Rebecca grinned. "I have a good idea where to start."

For the rest of the night until they were ready to go to sleep, the two girls watched movies. Romantic movies mostly, so that Kat could see how relationships formed between two people.

"Movies over dramatise things," Rebecca explained, "But you can get the general idea from them."

Kat was captivated by it all. The movies had a man and a woman in love, and dramatic things would happen, but they would always end up together because it was 'true love'. Kat thought it was amazing.

Eventually Kat was drained, and curled herself up in her bed. It was so comfortable; nothing like what she was used to, but it didn't take long for her to fall asleep. After all, she loved sleeping.

The next morning Kat followed Rebecca to the costume tent and helped her out for the day. It turned out that Kat followed Rebecca around every day, helping her out with whatever chores she had to do. Except cleaning the Wolfman's cage, as Kat and the Wolfman didn't get along. At night time, after dinner, the girls watched movies and talked and laughed. Kat liked Rebecca, and it was a good thing too, because she barely ever saw and never spoke to Evra.

Certain nights some of the freaks would go to perform a show. Evra always went with Bippo, but Rebecca never went and neither did Kat. She was never asked to go, and she didn't think she would ever be asked, because she wasn't an exciting talented freak. She was just a spotty leopard girl.

A couple of weeks after Kat had joined the Cirque, Rebecca took advantage of one of her days off to go into town and get some material and other sewing things to make some new clothes. She begged and pleaded for Kat to come, but Kat would not agree. There was no way that Kat would go out into public where people would see her.

So Kat took advantage of her day off all alone to go exploring. She remembered the rule that she was allowed to go exploring around the grounds outside of the Cirque, but no one was allowed to come in. That was ok, because Kat would hear if anyone was getting close and could hide if need be.

Kat left the grounds and started off, stopping to listen every so often. Eventually she heard the sounds of water, and ran to get to it as soon as possible. Moments later Kat found herself standing at the edge of a lake. It was a warm day and she loved water, so she ran fully clothed into the lake and got herself soaking wet. She laughed as she splashed about, enjoying the feeling of the cool water.

After a few moments of this, she pulled herself out of the lake and went to lie on the grass in the sun. Kat rolled onto her back and closed her eyes, now relishing the feeling of the sun heating the droplets on her skin.

Kat froze. She had just heard something. Her face shot towards the tree line some 40 feet away, and she listened. Someone was definitely coming her way, she could hear them walking clumsily through the trees, stepping on twigs and leaves. Kat's eyes darted around, and she spotted a nearby tree. She ran at it flat out and extended her claws at the last second to climb up the tree easily. She nestled herself comfortably in the fork of two branches and watched.


	11. Chapter 11

**Eleven**

A few slow passing minutes later, someone broke through the line of trees and stood staring out at the lake. Kat moved ever so slightly to adjust her vision and saw him. Evra! She thought about jumping down since she knew who it was, but decided against it, and instead lay completely still, watching what Evra would do next.

Evra looked around, seeming to scope out the area, utterly unaware that he was being watched. When he seemed satisfied that he was alone, he began undressing, pulling his shirt over his head. He was wearing shorts already, and he left these on as he lay down on the ground.

Kat stared at him, puzzled at first, before realising that since he was a snake boy, he must be sunning himself. Kat had read up on snakes in the recent weeks to learn as much about everything as she could. They needed the sun and heat and vitamin D to survive.

Kat decided that it didn't seem likely that Evra would leave anytime soon. She mentally thanked the fact that she wasn't wearing shoes today and climbed noiselessly down the tree head first. Kat wasn't sure how she knew she could do certain things, such as climbing trees, jumping big heights or landing a huge jump, but she just _knew_.

Kat was only a few feet from Evra now and he still hadn't opened his eyes or realised she was there at all. She stood awkwardly for a moment, deciding on what to do.

"Evra," she called.

Evra yelped, shooting upright.

"What the hell? When did you get here?" Evra screeched, his hand clutched to his chest.

Kat couldn't help but smirk. "I've been here the whole time, in that tree." She motioned to where she'd been hidden.

"You shouldn't sneak up on people; I almost had a heart attack." Evra flung himself back onto the grass, closing his eyes.

Kat stood uncomfortably, not knowing what to do now. She hadn't spoken to Evra in so long, it felt strange. He had lied when he said they could still be friends, because they never had anything to do with each other anymore.

"Are you going to join me?" Evra asked, opening one eye to stare at Kat.

Kat sat down clumsily beside him, picking at the grass beneath her hands.

"You lied to me," Kat said softly, playing with a blade of grass between her fingers.

"What?" Evra sat upright.

"You told me we'd still be friends, but you haven't spoken to me at all since that day."

Evra sighed, rubbing his face with his hands. "I- I didn't lie. I know I haven't spoken to you, but I've just been confused. I felt some things that I shouldn't have, not with the way things were, with how you were. It wasn't right, and I was just trying to do the right thing by you."

"I want you to be my friend," Kat said.

She thought about all the movies she had watched. In some of them, there was a knight in shining armour, a man that saved the woman's life in some way or another. That's how Kat felt about her and Evra. He had saved her life; he was her knight in shining armour. She wanted them to fall in love and live happily ever after.

But Kat didn't know the first thing about love. She didn't feel love when she was around Evra. She felt light headed and dizzy, her heart raced, her stomach did flips, her palms went sweaty. It felt like she had the flu or a stomach bug when she was around Evra. She never told anyone though because she didn't want people to think her or Evra was contagious.

"I _do_ want to be your friend, Kat. And I'm gonna try harder. Starting now."

Evra lay back down and tapped the ground beside him, motioning for Kat to lie down too.

Kat's clothes were still dripping wet and they were getting uncomfortable. She looked at Evra and then slipped her long sleeve shirt over her head, then pulled the t-shirt from underneath off too. She was now sitting beside Evra in a pair of jeans and a midriff tank top.

Kat knew that she didn't need to feel self conscious or embarrassed about herself around Evra. She had never willingly shown someone her body like this before. No one had seen the black spots that started on her wrists, and then eventually became large rosettes on her upper arms, chest and back. Kat's skin was a golden tan colour, with the skin down her spine a darker orange.

Evra sat up again, and he ran his fingers over the biggest rosettes on Kat's back.

"They're beautiful," he whispered.

Kat pulled her knees up under her chin and hugged her legs to her chest.

"No they're not," she responded weakly.

"Yes," he said firmly, pulling her head around to look her in the eyes, "You are."

Kat's breath hitched and her heart thumped painfully in her chest. He had just said she was beautiful, not just the spots, Kat as a whole. Golden eyes stared into green, and then Kat couldn't resist, she pressed her lips to Evra's.

Kat had seen kissing in the movies her and Rebecca had watched, she'd seen open mouths, exchanging of saliva, tongues going crazy. But she wasn't entirely sure how that was going to work with her canines and Evra's 'fangs'. So instead she kept it simple and just left it at closed mouths, more would come when the time was right. Evra pulled away first.

"I can't, I can't, I just-" he started spluttering.

"Don't," Kat almost growled, "start going on about different meanings and not understanding and all that rubbish again. I _know _what I'm doing with you, and what it means." She paused, and when Evra made no comment she added, "Rebecca and I watched romantic movies."

Evra laughed at this. "Romantic movies? Cause we just look like two lead roles in a romantic chick flick."

Kat laughed too. "I'm sure the same general rules apply for freak romances."

The smile stayed on Evra's lips as he laid himself back down, pulling Kat down with him. She turned herself to snuggle into his side, and her head rested on his shoulder. Kat loved the feel of Evra's scales on her cheek, like velvet, and when he made the slightest movements she could feel the muscles sliding under them smoothly. Kat closed her eyes and let herself relax, losing herself in the moment with Evra and forgetting all her troubles.

"I thought you didn't purr," Evra said, pulling Kat from her half sleep state.

"What?" she said drowsily.

"You said the night we met that you didn't purr, but I'm pretty sure you were just purring." Evra's hand was tangled in Kat's hair, massaging her scalp.

Kat giggled. "Really?" she asked, not knowing herself if it were true, as she'd been in a daze.

"Not like a house cat, but definitely a purr. Only when you were breathing out too, not in," Evra described.

"Maybe I'm getting sick," Kat guessed, remembering her usual symptoms she exhibited when around Evra. She made a promise to herself to ask someone back at the Cirque to examine her, maybe Madame Truska.

"Or maybe you're just happy," Evra observed the smile on Kat's lips.

Kat thought for a moment before replying. "Yes, I'm happy when I'm with you Evra."

And it was true. Though Kat was happy at the Cirque, she had not felt truly happy without Evra. Now it was like she was so happy she could burst. The thing that she was missing for true happiness was Evra, and now it all fit perfectly.

The unlikely pair stayed wrapped in each other's arms for the rest of the afternoon, sometimes placing kisses on each other, and sometimes whispering sweet nothings. With his green scales, and her skin covered in spots, Kat was sure that to anyone else they looked like the two biggest disasters to walk God's earth. But to each other they were the most beautiful thing either had seen.

"Beautiful disasters," Kat whispered, closing her eyes and enjoying the sun's warmth.

"What?" Evra asked, not quite catching the meaning.

"Us," Kat replied simply. "We're beautiful disasters." Kat purred loudly in content.

"Yeah," Evra chuckled, kissing a spot on Kat's forehead, "I guess we are."


End file.
